Doreen & Monet

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Late in the afternoon, after classes, Doreen and Monet discuss prom and dresses and Monet takes Doreen on in a kind of Cinderella project.

Dori was so happy to do chores for Miss Monet. She got paid for it and she enjoyed the chance to work. The money, for the most part, she was sending to mom. She knew how hard things were at home right now with Dad holding out on Mom for some reason. She didn't like to think about it.

"Miss Monet," Doreen called as she finished up, "I'm all done with the cleaning stuff," she said. Monkey Joe sitting happily on a counter top, eating some nuts she had given him.

Monet winced. Clearly, she ought to have stayed in the room more often when Doreen was working. "That's awesome, hon. Thanks. Can you uh... not call me 'miss', though? It's a little..." Putting aside her books (she still had exams no matter how much time she'd spent pretending she didn't), Monet fumbled in her handbag for the envelope of cash.

"I guess, but I mean, you're nice enough to be paying me for this so it only seemed polite and Mom's always saying I should be," Doreen said with a smile.

"Dude. Seriously, I wouldn't ask you to do this for free. I'm paying you because I'm lazy. And calling me 'miss' just freaks me out." Monet shook her head. "You're being fine. Don't worry, okay?" she continued, before changing the subject, "You going to the prom at all?"

"I dunno," Doreen said, "I mean, I don't really have a dress and. I've never been to a dance before," she admitted. She didn't count the parties they had in middle school, back in the time when all the girls were taller than all the boys and it was the cross between a party and a children's get together.

"Oh, is that all?" Standing, Monet beckoned to Doreen. "Come on. We're enough of the same size that I think I can fix that." Heading into her bedroom, she rummaged through her wardrobe, pulling out a blue dress, a black one and a little red one. Looking at it carefully, she tossed it onto her bed. "Not that one. It might clash with your tail. Here. Try these on."

"Are you sure?" Doreen said looking at the dresses and then at her claws, "I might accidentally rip them," and it was hard to wear dresses that weren't fixed for her tail.

"They're like, three or four years out of fashion. I'm never going to wear them again. And honestly, even if they were in, I still wouldn't wear the blue again because I looked really pregnant in it." Monet shrugged. "I'll fix it for your tail, too."

"Um... Okay," Doreen said, carefully lifting up the dress. "Um, I guess I'll be out in a moment," Doreen said, ducking into the rest room to change into it. It took quite a bit and in the end she couldn't even get it buttoned up all the way. Monet had a few inches on her so the dress was also long and she clumsily came out and looked at her, "It's hard to button..."

"Hmm... I think the blue might be better, then? It's a bit shorter." It came to just above Monet's knees, so it would hit mid calf on Doreen. "Also, it's stretch fabric, so there's no fastenings and it should fit better."

"Okay," Doreen said, taking that one and switching out. It did look a bit better but without a tail hole the skirt was up quite high in the back. She reached back with her hands to try to push her tail and the rear end of the dress down as she walked out to show Monet. She felt clumsy in a dress, and had ever since it had become so easy for her to rip right through things.

"Does this look okay?" she squeaked. Monkey Joe, from his vantage point was making noises that sounded like laughter.

"It looks good. I'll have to put a slit in, for your tail, but and maybe a bit of lace in front, so that there's less cleaves going on." Monet made little shooing motions. "Can you go put it on inside out? I need to know where your tail sits..."

"Um, okay," Doreen said, going in and putting the dress on inside out. It was weird, but she wasn't going to turn down an offer like this. Even though a part of her felt guilty for taking it in the first place. She came back out, looking really silly she thought, her tail still lifting the back of the dress.

"Are you sure you want to give me this?" she asked again.

"Yeah. Look, I told you. It's like, three seasons out of date. Never going to wear it again. If you weren't here, I'd be donating it to Adrienne's thing, like the other two." Piece of chalk in one hand, Monet knelt behind Doreen. "Hold still. I need to mark out your tail."

She made a couple of quick chalk lines on the back of the dress. "You can take it off now, if you want."

"Okay," Doreen said, she did change out of the dress, but brought it back carefully and set it down trying not to touch it with her fingernails.
"It's still a really nice dress. Even if it is out of date."

Of course it's nice. I bought it. Monet barely refrained from saying it aloud. "Glad you like it, dude. Everyone needs a dress, you know." She grinned. "Even Nate. But don't tell him his kilt is actually a skirt, okay?"

She laughed, it was a squeaking clicking sound but it was still laughter, "He wears a kilt?" she asked, trying to stifle it. It wasn't nice to talk about someone when they weren't there. "I did have dresses but I can't wear them anymore so I didn't bring them with me. They didn't fit right anyway."

"His wife is Scottish. I think there's a law says he has to have one." She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. That bit has to suck giant monkey balls. Still, at least we can alter dresses for you, right?"

"Yeah. And it's a pretty dress and as long as you're really okay with me having it..." Doreen trailed off then smiled, "Thank you, so much! You won't have to pay me the next few weeks so I can pay for the dress and having it altered and stuff."

Doreen paused again and tilted her to one side, "It's okay to go to a dance without a date, right?"

"Oh for fuck's sake, Doreen! The dress is seperate from the part where you're working for me, okay? I'm giving it to you because otherwise, you'd end up not going or going in some piece of crap from Target." She pronounced it 'Tarzhey'. "Look, honestly. It's fine." Monet smiled reassuringly at her, taking the girl by one shoulder and sterring her toward the table. Why did the kids always have to ask her these questions. "Yes. There's like, three boys in your school. Of course it's okay to go on your own."

"Okay. I just... well, I haven't had anything really nice for clothing in awhile," Doreen explained, being guided towards the table. "I mean, I know how it works but I really don't know how it works," she said, for the dances.

Monet laughed. "That part's not so hard. You stand on one side of the room, the boys on the other and you all feel like dorks. And back in my day, someone would spike the punch."

“Oh gosh,” Doreen said, “I hope no one does it this time. Alcohol smells bad,” she was well acquainted with it from right before Dad left home.

"I don't reckon they will. Youse are a lot better behaved than we were." Which was putting it lightly, given the time Jubilee summoned the demon and Amanda's ...little problems.

“Yeah, most everyone seems really nice,” Doreen said. Most because of the Cuckoos, but other than that she couldn’t really find fault in anyone.

"What? Even the Cuckoos?" She stared at Doreen in disbelief.

“They’re okay. They’re not as bad as some of the girls back home,” Doreen said simply.

"Wow. The girls back home must have sucked giant monkey balls. I mean, they're sweet enough but the Cuckoos are a little fucked in the head, too." Monet shrugged. She liked the girls but then, they all had that 'yeah, we're all awesome telepaths being awesome together' thing going on.

"That's not nice to say," Doreen said, "Everyone has something good about them even if they don't show it. And a lot of the girls back home used to be my friends. They're just... not used to me," after two years.

"Dude. Are you for real? People act like utter tools and you think they're okay? Seriously?" Monet shook her head. "You don't think you're oh, I dunno. Acting like you're a few bricks short of a load by thinking that about people?"

“They used to be my friends!” Doreen repeated, “Before high school we were good friends! We all used to hang out and I would go to parties and we were all really excited about High School and then everyone got upset!”

"Mmhmm." Monet took pity on her and didn't mention that she'd been good friends with some girls before high school and before learning what they did or rather, didn't do to their hair. "Still. You've got a dress. Oooh! You're going to need nail polish, too! How do you like red?"

“My nails?” Doreen said, looking down at the thick, brown, sharp nails. “Can they really be painted?”

"I don't see why not. We'll just give them a good buffing, first. It'll totally work."

“How do you buff nails?” Doreen asked, looking up from her claws, “I thought buffing was just for floors.”

"Oh, honey." Monet looked horrified. "Remind me to get you a nail buffer. They're like, super cheap. I'd give you one of mine but they're all metal files and things."

“Oh, it’s filing? But I’m really not filing my nails down anymore,” she said.

"It's not filing. Well, okay, I have to use files, but," and Monet waved her hand, "I've got invulnerable nails. It's more, making your nails all smooth and pretty so the nail polish looks better."

“Even nails like mine?” Doreen said looking up, “I haven’t been able to paint my nails for a couple of years.”

Monet waved her hand in the air again. "We can do mine. We can do Yvette's if we want. So we can totally do yours."

Doreen brightened up, “Would red really go with blue though? Shouldn’t they be blue instead?”

"No. Oh my god, no! They'll clash. Red will bring out your hair and we'll tie it all together with your eyeshadow."

“I’m going to be wearing make up?” Doreen asked.

"Well, it's either that or go with a sack on your head. Of course you'll be wearing makeup."

“…My face isn’t that bad, is it?” Doreen asked. She had heard kids say that about her before, but she always thought it was due to other things, like not liking that she had a tail.

"Nah. You're totally cute. But that dress is just wrong without makeup. Like, seriously, if you're not wearing it, it's going to look like you forgot to get dressed," Monet said.

“Oh,” Doreen said with a nod, “I understand,” she said. And she did, she had lived in Beverly Hills. Part of the teasing that started was because she couldn’t afford brand names anymore, and her claws made it hard to put on make up. It just wasn’t something she ever thought about more than a little anymore.

Monet blinked, catching the edge of Doreen's thought. "Hey, why don't you come round an hour or so before the prom and I'll fix your hair and do your makeup?"

“Really?” Doreen asked, “You’d do that?”

"Yeah, sure. Like I said, you can't wear that dress without makeup."

Doreen gave Monet a flying, tight hug, “Thank you, thank you!” she said happily.

Monet froze, hands out to the sides. This is so very inappropriate, she thought, with a sideline of get the student off me. "It's nothing, hon."